AppleTV and your movie collection

[brianlees]

Slightly off topic, but a little light hearted given all the tech babble over the past few weeks here (if the mods want to delete this post for being off-topic, I'm OK with it...I'm just really curious)....

How many movies from your collection do you have on your AppleTV? Are they on the AppleTV itself or are you streaming them? Any TV shows?

I'm really curious as to the practical aspects of all this on the AppleTV itself. I don't think there is a better place to ask this question other than the Handbrake forums, since this is where the most activity seems to be for utilizing the AppleTV.

[blazo]

Well, I have now aprox. 180 movies (some 20 more to transcode), and aprox. 200 toons (mostly TV rips I riped myself, some DVD rips). Also have 6 series: The Blue Planet, Planet Eart, Walking w/ Dinosaurs and Walking w/ Beasts, Allo! Allo! (not yet all seasons) and Firefly (DVD rips).

I only sync [G] movies/toons so that children can play them without PC turned on. The whole collection is now running around 400+GB.

But lately I'm considering only renting movies since it's less fuss and cheap enough. On the other hand for some masterpieces ...

[brianlees]

The syncing of the "G" movies is a great idea.

Firefly....nice. Exact reason I'm going to get an aTV.

I'm also curious on the setups of people on the board who stream to their aTV.

Mods - perhaps this post should be moved to the tiki bar? I apologize that I didn't think to possibly post it there first. But, it is your call.

[dynaflash]

Mods - perhaps this post should be moved to the tiki bar? I apologize that I didn't think to possibly post it there first. But, it is your call.

Good call on the tiki bar. Done. Appropriate place for it. Good thread.

[brianlees]

Is anyone using a NAS with iTunes server built-in? I see that LaCie has one. Does that crap actually work?

Blazo - how is the aTV interface with 180 movies? It doesn't seem like it scales well to that number. I don't mean from a technical point of view, I mean from a GUI and human interface point of view. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[nightstrm]

Is anyone using a NAS with iTunes server built-in? I see that LaCie has one. Does that crap actually work?

Blazo - how is the aTV interface with 180 movies? It doesn't seem like it scales well to that number. I don't mean from a technical point of view, I mean from a GUI and human interface point of view. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I have yet to see a NAS-based iTunes server that allows you to configure the authorization code required for an AppleTV to communicate directly with a library. I store all of my files on my ReadyNAS NV+ (which also has iTunes Server software BTW), but the library is hosted locally on my iMac.

[GadgetDon]

I've got 163 movies, and it works pretty well. If you keep on scrolling, the scrolling speeds up, so you get close to the right position, then go forward or back a bit to get to the movie you need.

I've also got 344 TV episodes. Some purchased, others ripped from DVD like Greatest American Hero, Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister, and MacGuyver. I also have some faux TV shows, like all the extras from the Superman Doomsday DVD

I have my big Apple TV in the bedroom set for 10 most recent movies plus a few movies I really like. My little Apple TV in the office is set for just the 5 most recent movies.

My one complaint about the Apple TV 2.0 is that you can no longer, from the Apple TV, say "show me what's on the Apple TV" or "show me what's on the computer". Instead, on the computer, you have to check or uncheck "Show only the synced items on my Apple TV"

My office machine is mostly used for podcasts and video podcasts. If I'm only looking at what's on the Apple TV, I'm only seeing the unplayed podcasts/video casts. Very easy, very convenient. But that means that the movies the only show what's been synced to the device. If I want it to show all movies, it'll show all pocasts as well, and so you have to go digging for the unplayed ones.

[brianlees]

Good info here. Sucks about the iTunes streaming from NAS. I didn't realize the authorization was required. Apple really needs to address that. We need a low power device that can centralize everything. Time to look at fanless, low power pcs that will only do one thing!

I figured the scroll speed was variable, but I wasn't sure.

[blazo]

Hi, Brian.
Scrolling 180+ movies is a snap. As GadgetDon pointed out the longer you hold the button the faster is scrolls.
I am grouping toons as TV shows since it would be a mess otherwise. I was also thinking on grouping movies like Harry Potter, Aliens, Starwars, ... into TV shows but bot decided yet.

On your topic of low power iTunes/NAS solution I was thinking on getting Mac mini with external 1TB disk put somwhere in the basement. Since I'm already running PC with Win2003 server (web, email) at home and the machine is pretty old I'm going to replace it soon. I only have to find good (easy to administer) email server for Leopard.

[dynaflash]

I am actually in the progress of retaggin everything as a tv show. At least that way I can get some semblance of order. that single long list sucks and for whatever the reason. Apple does not seem to want the atv to recoginze video playlists, though my 5 g ipod has had them for a few *years* now .

[brianlees]

Genre recognition would help as well. I didn't realize that the aTV couldn't sort by at least that. Hmmm.....

[GadgetDon]

Unfortunately, I think that with the Take 2, the developers said "OK, the idea that people would have big libraries has failed, so it's all about the rentals". Thus, purchased and ripped movies are somewhat hidden away, "Your movies" is at the bottom of the list. My biggest complaint with the Take 2 update is that you can't choose between the movies on the Apple TV and the movies on the computer from the Apple TV, you have to change the settings on the computer and update.

[brianlees]

Let me see if I understand correctly... You are saying that you can only see either movies on the local aTV or on the shared library, but not both at the same time without changing settings on the aTV? I must be misunderstanding it.

[blazo]

The fact is this:
By default you see your entire library on appleTV. There is no (visible) distinction between synced and streaming content. You can "disable" streaming content by means of a checkmark in iTunes. That way you only see what is synced to your aTV (same happens when you shutdown iTunes/computer).
Synced content always plays from aTV, even though you see entire library! Of course shared libraries (the ones not synced to aTV from other computers) show under "Shared ..." menu (Movies, TV Shows, Music, etc).

In my opinion take 2's handling of library is better than previous version since I no longer have to care what is synced and what is streaming (I'm running both aTV and PC on 100MBps ethernet, and my streaming macbook on 54Mbps wirelless).

As you said Genre grouping or video playlists would be nice, though you can use sorting fields to properly group/sort movies (this helped me properly group all Harry Potter, Alien and other movies).

[Cavalicious]

This is simple...by default, ATV 2.0 will play sync before stream. You can tell because there is no buffer time.

[brianlees]

As I'm sure everyone has seen, Genre was added to the Movies section in the minor update (2.0.1) that was just released. It would seem that either Apple is listening or someone there thought the same thing as everyone else.

Now, if Handbrake would only covert high-def MKV files (say 1080p down to 720p), I would be set! VisualHub just doesn't do a good job....too blocky in my test sample, even at the stupid "go nuts" setting.

[brianlees]

OK, can someone clarify something for me?

I went to the Apple Store today with my 3 year old (always an interesting experience, but that is a different post for a different forum). I was looking at the aTV in the store and was looking at the Genre option. All it listed was movies for rent or buy (can't remember which). Will movies that I have ripped show up here as well? How do I get it not to show all the other crap?

I'm confused (not the first time and certainly not the last)....

[realityking]

There is a separate entry in the menu called My Movies, that's where your encodes will show up.

[brianlees]

SO the Genre thing doesn't work there, eh? I saw that entry while I was at the store. I thought that was the way it happened. It really sucks. I like the aTV, but it seems like all they are pushing is rentals. They don't seem to care if you buy a movie.

Hmmm....need to rethink this. Maybe a Mini and frontrow instead....more research needed.

[dynaflash]

Um, Genres works just fine in the My Movies section. I use it all of the time to keep my HB encodes sorted.

[brianlees]

Really? Ok, so can someone explain this to me. Is there a Genres entry UNDER My Movies? I really didn't like how the aTV was just pushing rentals. But, that could have just been the setup at the Apple Store. I just didn't see Genres under My Movies in the store.

Or, maybe I just need to shut up and buy one...that way all of you don't have to listed to 20 questions.

[realityking]

The Genres option were only added with the most recent update (2.0.1), chances are that the Sore hasn't updated its AppleTV yet.

[brianlees]

It had the Genre option at the root of the Movies menu, but not under the My Movies option.

[nightstrm]

It had the Genre option at the root of the Movies menu, but not under the My Movies option.

If you do not have genres defined, or have not upgraded to 2.0.1, it will not show at the top of the My Movies section. Otherwise, you're just not looking in the right place...

[brianlees]

Good! I thought that might be the case. I feel better now. I need all my ducks in a row for the wife...as I'm currently "between jobs".